I reference these quotes on the open secrets of spirituality so frequently that it was finally time to compile them in one place. Enjoy!
“I’ll understand where you’re coming from. I’ll be compassionate towards you. But, someday, sometime, somewhere, if you’re ready, I’ll slip you the secret. That to me would be true compassion. You don’t have to be this way; there’s another way.” — Anthony de Mello
Post Contents:
- The secret isn’t a secret
- The secret of now
- The secret of non-separation
- The secret of non-attachment
- The secret that you are that
25+ Deep Quotes on the Open Secrets of Spirituality
The secret isn’t a secret:
“Funny thing about all the secrets of the east or the secrets of mysticism. . . They’re not secret! Nobody’s saying ‘don’t tell him.’ They’re telling you. They’re yelling it.” — Ram Dass
“The secret is a secret to you because of where your head is at. Your receiving mechanism isn’t tuned for that particular frequency.” — Ram Dass
“The human mind is such an extraordinary thing. It has invented the computer. It has split the atom. It sends ships into space. It has not solved the problem of human suffering … How come we haven’t found the answer to that? We’ve made all kinds of technological advances. Has that raised the quality of our living by one inch? My opinion is no, not one inch. Oh, we have more comfort, more speed, pleasures, entertainment—greater technological advances. Any improvement on that loneliness and emptiness and heartache? Any improvement on that greed and hatred and conflict? Less fighting? Less cruelty? If you want my opinion, I think it’s worse. And, the tragedy is, the secret has been found.” — Anthony de Mello
“There’s nothing so important in the world as awakening. Nothing! … What you are aware of you are in control of; what you are not aware of is in control of you. You are always a slave to what you’re not aware of. When you’re aware of it, you’re free from it. It’s there, but you’re not affected by it. You’re not controlled by it; you’re not enslaved by it. That’s the difference … If you could grasp this, you’d hit upon the secret of awakening. You would be happy forever. You would never be unhappy again. Nothing would have the power to hurt you again. I mean that, nothing.” — Anthony de Mello
The secret of now:
“Since ancient times, spiritual masters of all traditions have pointed to the Now as the key to the spiritual dimension. Despite this, it seems to have remained a secret.” — Eckhart Tolle
“There are three words that convey the secret of the art of living: One With Life. Being one with life is being one with Now. You then realize that you don’t live your life, but life lives you. Life is the dancer, and you are the dance.” — Eckhart Tolle
“Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to ‘die before you die’ and find that there is no death.” — Eckhart Tolle
“This is the real secret of life: to be completely engaged with what you’re doing in the here and now—and instead of calling it work, realize that this is play.” — Alan Watts
The secret of non-separation:
“This is the secret that is never given away—that self and other are inseparable. Just in the same way that the front and the back of a coin are different but identical. It’s all one coin. So, in exactly the same way, the experience of self and the experience of other are mutually necessary. You wouldn’t know what you meant by self unless you knew other, you wouldn’t know other unless you knew what you meant by self.” — Alan Watts
“The fundamental ultimate mystery, the only thing you need to know to understand the deepest metaphysical secrets, is this: for every outside there is an inside, and for every inside there is an outside. And, although they are different, they go together. In other words, there is a secret conspiracy between all insides and all outsides. The conspiracy is this: to look as different as possible and yet underneath to be identical because you don’t find one without the other.” — Alan Watts
“In this harmony between our unity and our diversity lies the secret of life; Nature insists equally in all her works upon unity and upon variation.” — Sri Aurobindo
“The secret sauce of compassion: connectedness, relatedness.” — Joan Halifax
The secret of non-attachment:
“The secret is to renounce nothing, cling to nothing, enjoy everything and allow it to pass, to flow.” — Anthony de Mello
Student: “What is the secret of your serenity?” Master: “Wholehearted cooperation with the inevitable.” — Anthony de Mello
“Ask to be happy no matter what you get. There is the secret.” — Anthony de Mello
“Relax into the moment and let the universe do the driving. If there was a secret to happiness in life, I’d say that was it.” — Jed McKenna
“This is my secret: I don’t mind what happens.” — Jiddu Krishnamurti
“(Krishnamurti) didn’t mean to imply that he did not care. He simply meant that his happiness was not invested in the content of experience … He was speaking on behalf of awareness. He wasn’t speaking on behalf of a temporary, finite mind with all its likes and dislikes. I, awareness, that with which all experience is known, that in which all experience appears, that out of which all experience is made. That I, the only I that truly is, I don’t mind what happens … The peace prior to mind. It means that we are no longer seeking fulfillment in objective experience—that is in objects, substances, states of mind, activities, relationships.” — Rupert Spira
The secret that you are that:
“We do not need a new religion or a new bible. We need a new experience—a new feeling of what it is to be ‘I.’ The lowdown (which is, of course, the secret and profound view) on life is that our normal sensation of self is a hoax, or, at best, a temporary role that we are playing, or have been conned into playing—with our own tacit consent, just as every hypnotized person is basically willing to be hypnotized.” — Alan Watts
“The great secret that lies at the heart of all the main religious and spiritual traditions is the understanding that the peace and happiness for which all people long can never be delivered via objective experience. It can only be found in our Self, in the depths of our being.” — Rupert Spira
“When this secret is revealed to you, you will know that you are not other than God but that you yourself are the object of your quest. You do not need to get rid of your self. You have not ceased, nor will you cease, to exist, without time and without moments.” — Ibn Arabi & Balyani
“What remains is the Self alone. That is real love. One who knows the secret of that love finds the world itself full of universal love.” — Ramana Maharshi
“The secret of enlightenment: When you are enlightened—when you know the absolute, Turiya—it’s not as an object. No, no. You are that. That’s what you realize. You are not a person who realizes the absolute. If you’re a person who says, ‘I know the absolute’ then you do not know. One who knows that it cannot be known as an object, truly knows. You are not a person who lives eternally; you are that eternal existence itself. You are not a person who knows that ultimate reality; you are that knowledge itself. You are not a person who enjoys various kinds of blissful experiences; you are that bliss itself … You are not somebody who has become free; you are freedom itself.” — Swami Sarvapriyananda
“When you see the people who you think are not in on the secret—if you really understand, you have to revise your opinion completely and say that the squares are the people who are really far out, because they don’t even know where they started. See, an enlightened Hindu or Buddhist looks at the ignorant people of this world and says, ‘My respects. Because here I see the divine essence having altogether forgotten what it is and playing the most far out game of being completely lost. Congratulations! How far out can you get?’ So, if you understand that, you don’t start a war with people you might say are square. Don’t challenge them, don’t bug them, don’t frighten them. The reason is not because they are immature, because they are babies and you mustn’t scare babies. It’s nothing to do with that. You mustn’t frighten them because they are doing a very far out act. They’re walking on a tightrope, miles up, and they’ve got to do that balancing act. And if you shout they may lose their nerve. See? That’s what we call the responsible people of the world are doing: it is an act; it’s a game just like the tightrope walker. But it’s a risky one and you can get ulcers from it, and all sorts of troubles. But you must respect it and say, ‘Congratulations on being so far out.'” — Alan Watts
Bonus: Beginner’s Mind & Headless Way
“In Japan we have the phrase shoshin, which means ‘beginner’s mind.’ The goal of practice is always to keep our beginner’s mind … The most difficult thing is always to keep your beginner’s mind. There is no need to have a deep understanding of Zen. Even though you read much Zen literature, you must read each sentence with a fresh mind. You should not say, ‘I know what Zen is,’ or ‘I have attained enlightenment.’ This is also the real secret of the arts: always be a beginner. Be very very careful about this point. If you start to practice zazen, you will begin to appreciate your beginner’s mind. It is the secret of Zen practice.” — Shunryu Suzuki
“The invisibility of one’s head—almost the not having of any head at all—is the secret of being alive. To be headless, you might say.” — Alan Watts (see On Having No Head by Douglas Harding & 🔒 Headless Way Experiments)
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